Scientists from the Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC), Calcutta, have discovered a phenomenon which could lead to a reliable method for predicting earthquakes. They have reported that the rate of production of the natural gas helium from Agni Kundu, the hot water spring in Bakreswar village in West Bengal, could predict quake activity. The production rate of helium had fallen just before the 1995 Kobe earthquake and then rose to more than double the ususal level after the quake. They came across the unusual phenomenon while harnessing natural gas for VECC's new superconducting cyclotron project.
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